The Killing Code by Ellie Marney

Title: The Killing Code

Author: Ellie Marney

Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 20^th September 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 400

Price: $22.99

Synopsis: A young codebreaker at Arlington Hall – the secret WWII Signals Intelligence unit in Washington DC – joins forces with other female codebreakers to hunt a murderer who is killing US government girls. Another page-turning YA thriller from the author of None Shall Sleep, perfect for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

‘Miss Sutherland … what would you say if I told you I might be able to offer you a job helping the war effort?’

1943. World War II is raging across Europe and on the Pacific front. Kit Sutherland is hiding a huge secret when she is unexpectedly recruited to work as a young codebreaker at Arlington Hall, a US Signals Intelligence facility.

When Kit’s roommate doesn’t return home from a dance, it sparks a search that ends in a gruesome discovery. And soon it turns into a horrifying pattern: Government girls are being murdered in Washington, DC.

Kit joins forces with three other girl codebreakers, Dottie, Moya and Violet, and as they work to crack the killer’s code, two things become terrifyingly clear: the murderer they’re hunting is getting closer every moment … and Kit’s own secret could put her in more jeopardy than she ever imagined.

~*~

In 1943, Kit Sutherland is leaving Arlington Hall, a school, for the last time. It is about to be taken over to house Signals Intelligence code breakers – mostly women and young girls – with an average of nineteen. She’s drawn into this world by Moya Kershaw and Dottie Crockford, who befriend her. Yet when Dottie doesn’t return home one night, Kit and Moya set out to look for her, and stumble upon a gruesome discovery – the dead body of another female codebreaker. Soon, Dottie, Moya, and Kit are joined by Violet DuLac, one of the Black codebreakers, who brings them another case and asks for their – Kit’s – help in exchange for keeping a secret Kit wishes no-one to discover, because if they did find out, Kit would lose everything. As World War Two rages across Europe and the Pacific, these girls break codes, both for the war effort, and the code of the killer, who appears to be going after codebreakers and has been at it for a few months. The killer’s code leads them to undercover work, and a list of suspects – but is the killer closer than they think?

Ellie Marney’s latest book, a serial killer set against the backdrop of war and codebreaking, and is told in first person present, making the action seem more immediate, and pulling the reader headfirst into the story. I got to experience everything Kit did, feel everything she did, and be part of the group with her – which is what I think Ellie intended, because for this novel, this kind of immediacy worked well. I found that I needed to know what was going to happen. As it was set in the 1940s, we do witness racism towards Violet and see discussions of class, gender, sexism, and a few other things, but it was done to set the scene and the main characters all abhorred it – and gaps in knowledge and misunderstandings were dealt with in a way that suited the time and characters, whilst allowing them to be genuine, flawed, and show that they all had things to learn. For me, the friendship between the four girls was the best thing about this novel – it was lovely to see how four girls from vastly different backgrounds could come together over a common goal to save other girls and catch a killer.

I also loved that there was diversity in this book – segregation was brought up, and I found the way the girls dealt with the difficulties of meeting that Violet brought up to be inventive – creating a club that would mean she’d be allowed to join them where the three white girls lived. Kit and Moya’s romance was lovely – I loved how they started off as friends and it felt like they were a little unsure of things at first, but the result had me cheering and I loved the support and acceptance they got – in fact, all the support and acceptance of everyone in this book was one of my favourite elements.

Being a crime book, this had me on the edge of my seat the entire time I read the book – I finished it in two or three sittings because I had to find out who was going to be okay, if anyone I had come to adore would die, and how everything would turn out – especially as the list of suspects grew, I kept thinking what if the suspect is closer to home? There was something unsettling about one of the male characters, and some of the things he says early in the novel seemed both suspicious and innocuous. I kept going over it all in my mind because I knew something was off about the suspect list – it was missing someone they should have looked at the whole time – and I may have guessed who it was at one stage when I was screaming at the page to not do the Thing! But of course, we all know what happens in the climax of these crime stories!

My heart was leaping at certain spots, and I felt that this was a powerful novel, incorporating ideas about equality and division, and I loved that Ellie allowed her characters to explore their flaws and question themselves, and allowed them to explain themselves – I think this allowed the story to be stronger, because it left room to deal with the bigger conflicts, whilst allowing the smaller conflicts to be discussed and dealt with by Dottie, Violet, Kit and Moya. I also can’t choose a favourite – I think I’d want to be friends with all of them! The story is filled with twists and turns, and because I’ve read and watched many crime shows and stories before, I was profiling and trying to solve the case with the girls, all with the hairs on the back of my neck standing up when a certain character walked in, or appeared on the scene. I think this is a really good book for older teens and over, and I loved the way the code breaking techniques used in the war became useful for the crime solving. And as always, I love a good amateur sleuth story. It was a ripping read. A fantastic offering from Ellie Marney.